www.alterauslander.com - A Paleo Nerd and Outdoor Enthusiast Website

5 Essentials for the Paleo Kitchen

on Saturday, 13 April 2013. Posted in Paleo & Ketogenic, Mind and Machine

Every Paleo kitchen needs the following items to give an extra helping hand.

1. Crock Pot

How else are you going to create that lovely batch of bone broth to heal your gut? Crock Pots are definitely making a come back in the kitchen especially with those eating Paleo. We consume large chunks of meat and slurp up bone broths but you can cook other items in there as well.

I personally own the Hamilton Beach 6-Quart.  It's programmable and comes with a meat thermometer (which I rarely use)

2. Cast Iron Skillet

A well seasoned Iron Skillet is probably the most essential item used in the kitchen, at least for me. I cook pretty much everything in it. I tossed out my various teflon, calphalon, whatever other kind of -on coated cooking materials in favor of stainless and cast iron. It takes a little skill and care to get used to cooking on cast iron but is well worth it for the flavor imbued and the avoidance of harmful chemicals flaking off into your food. You also get the added bonus of adding iron to your meals.

I prefer Lodge as that was what we always used in my time as a Boy Scout.  I now own and use for everything, the Deep 10.25" variety.

Stone Mountain State Park


Roaring Gap, NC

Stone Mountain State Park



Osprey Manta 20


Osprey Manta 20



The Medical Magic Show

on Tuesday, 05 March 2013. Posted in General Health, Mind and Machine

My opinion of the Medical Industry

The Medical Magic Show

It depresses me to see the sick and obese constantly. I work in the Mental Health and Substance Abuse field and I see on a daily basis the results of our medical industry in one way or another. Yes, a lot of these people are on illegal substances, have lost their way in a quagmire of marketed goods, or they're so poor or ostracized they exist in a sub-sect of society that is looked down upon by everyone. The only help they're given is a dose of medication to cover their symptoms. I also see perfectly healthy people being beaten down by the lies propagated by advertisements and marketing that is doled out by authoritarian figures who supposedly have our best interests at heart. That couldn't be further from the truth.

I have personally watched how the medical industry can destroy a person. My girlfriend has had ailments that suggest a metabolic disorder yet doctors would only diagnose as something as vague as Fibromyalgia, allergies, or chronic fatigue syndrome. She was given pain relievers and anti-depressants continually upping the dose as her symptoms increased upon taking these medications. Side effects were augmented with the latest and greatest medications that were meant to help and all they did were prolong and perhaps mask the underlying symptoms. Do doctors do this intentionally or is it just misguided information handed down to them? Or worse, is it due to the kickbacks that they receive for trying out designer drugs on their patients? This seems to be unethical but it happens on a daily basis and I have been witness to this drug dispensing without warrant. How often have you visited a doctor and the length of the visit is roughly 5-10 minutes before the doctor is shoving you out the door with a handful of sample medications or a prescription that the insurance company gets to decide on how much it wants to pay.

As my research goes and the more I witness, the medical industry is not out there to help anyone. It is there to keep you in a medical cycle of medications. It WANTS to keep you as a patient for as long as possible. We're given drugs that have more side effects than what it is meant to help and, more often than not, these side effects are lifelong debilitating disorders, never to be truly fixed. The mere statement of calling the medical field an industry should be a clear indicator that something is wrong. The medical profession needs to look clearly at itself in the mirror, remembering the Hippocratic oath.

Body By Science

on Thursday, 21 February 2013. Posted in Reviews, Books

A Researched-Based Program For Strength Training, Body Building, and Complete Fitness in 12 Minutes a Week

Body By Science

I just recently finished with Body By Science.  This is my latest research into high intensity interval training (HIIT) routines as that is where I am headed mostly in my workout regime right now. I wanted to find a little more science behind why it works and why I should do this compared to the typical weight or resistance training.

The book was recommended by Nora Gedguadas in her book Primal Body Primal Mind.  I read the reviews on Amazon and apparently mostly meat heads were giving it lower ratings due to the fact that it doesn't just give simple instructions on routines.  I do agree that the subtitle is a bit misleading in that it states "A Research based program for strength training, body building, and complete fitness in 12 minutes a week".  However, what it does offer is a much more in-depth study of HIIT, the research behind it, and why it works.

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